From the wind-swept prairies of Glencoe to the urbane halls of medicine in Rochester, citizens can't be blamed if they're baffled by the confused message and flaccid wrangling of our Republican overlords.
McLeod County Chronicle editor Rich Glenne, himself a conservative, writes in Republicans sticking to their guns, but that may not work as planned:
Prior to the November elections, House District 25A candidate Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe said that if Republicans do not stick to their beliefs, "they could quickly find themselves in the minority.
What he may not have foreseen, however, is if the Republicans continue their inflexible position on the budget, as has been the case this session, the result may be the same. . .
Minnesotans did not send state representatives to St. Paul to shut down state government. Do your jobs. Get a budget hammered out, even if that means compromise, that blasphemous word to conservative Republicans. . . .
Not only are conservatives trying to reshape the size of government, they also took on constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage and for requiring voter photo IDs for future elections. Plus, they are mulling over an expansion of gambling, a new Vikings stadium push and squabbling over the Legacy funds and who should get that constitutionally designated tax money.
That has been quite a load to address in one session. The aim apparently is to get this all accomplished before the next election because they may not have the majorities after voters go to the polls in 2012.
Buzzkill. And blasphemous about that unbending position. But it gets worse in Rochester, where the Post Bulletin caught a former Senate Minority Leader talking about his caucus's own "bad bills." In Senjem offers Dayton advice on reaching a budget deal, Heather Carlson writes:
When it comes to who is at fault for the session ending without a budget deal, Senjem said everyone is somewhat to blame. He said he backed the Republican strategy of passing out budget bills and leaving them open in hopes of negotiating with the governor. The idea was to avoid having the bills vetoed. In retrospect, he said "maybe I was a little idealistic."
He added, "The idea as good as it might have been just didn't work and so then what do we do? We throw a whole bunch of frankly bad bills at him — bills we knew needed to be negotiated with the governor," Senjem said.
Because there's nothing like bad bills and bad faith in troubled times. But there's more!
In Freshman lawmakers jab back at Dayton, Red Wing Republican Sen. John Howe flatly observes:
Howe, meanwhile, conceded that "maybe we should have started at $32 billion, and created a budget, and been willing to come off of that number." He declined to specify where they would have made the extra cuts.
"He’s winning on this message right now, I believe," Howe said, referring to Dayton.
What more can I say? Sounds like Sutton's got himself at least one pretty dysfunctional caucus.
Photo: A Smith & Wesson .500 with 8 3/8" barrel. Don't blame me when an editor selects this metaphor.
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